Taiko. Part 101

"Azuchi is burning!"

At the report of the guards, the generals went out onto the veranda. Hideyoshi and the rest of them shaded their eyes with their hands.

A messenger reported, "Lord n.o.buo, who was camped at Tsuchiyama in Omi, and Lord Gamo joined forces and have been attacking Azuchi since morning. They set fire toboth the town and the castle, and the wind from the lake has engulfed all of Azuchi in flames. But theie were no enemy soldiers left in Azuchi, so there was no battle."

Hideyoshi could imagine what was occurring far away.

"There was no reason to set that fire," he muttered sullenly. "No matter who he is, Lord n.o.buo and even Gamo acted hastily."

But he soon calmed down. The culture that n.o.bunaga had spent the blood and resources of half a lifetime constructing was to be mourned in every way, but Hideyoshi had faith that very soon-and with his own strength-he would build an even greater castle and culture.

Just at that moment, another patrol of soldiers came from the main temple gate. They were gathered around a single man and were bringing him to Hideyoshi. "A farmer from Ogurusu by the name of Chobei says that he found Lord Mitsuhide's head."

It was the custom to inspect the head of an enemy general with grave decorum and etiquette, and Hideyoshi gave orders for his camp stool to be set up in front of the main temple. Soon thereafter, he sat down with the other generals and looked at Mitsuhide's head in silence.

Afterward, the head was exposed at the ruins of the Honno Temple. Only half a month had pa.s.sed since the morning the standard of the bellflower had been set up amid the Akechi army's war cries.

Mitsuhide's head had been displayed for the benefit of the citizens of the capital, and they swarmed together at the site from morning till night. Even those who had denounced Mitsuhide's treason now said a prayer, while others threw flowers beneath the rotting skull.

Hideyoshi's military commands were simple and clear. He had only three laws: Be diligent in your work. Commit no wrongs. Troublemakers will be executed.

Hideyoshi had not yet conducted a formal funeral service for n.o.bunaga; the grand ceremony he had in mind could not be accomplished with military power alone, and it would not be right for it to be under only his patronage. The fire in the capital had finally died down, but the sparks had spread to all the provinces.

n.o.bunaga was dead, Mitsuhide was dead, and there was the possibility that the country would once again be divided into three spheres of influence, as it had been before n.o.bunaga. Worse, family feuds and rival warlords defending their own local interests might plunge the country into the chaos of the last years of the shogunate.

From the Mii Temple, Hideyoshi moved his entire army onto a fleet of warships, boarding everything from horses to gilded screens. That was on the eighteenth of the month, and the objective was to move to Azuchi. Another military force also snaked its way east along the land route. The line of ships moving over the lake was driven by the breeze that filled the banners, and it reflected the marching land army advancing along the coast.

But Azuchi was already nothing more than scorched earth, and as soon as the troops arrived, they found themselves disheartened. The gold-and-blue walls of Azuchi no longer existed. All the gates of the outer wall and the towering eaves of the Soken Temple had been burned to the ground. The castle town was even worse. There was nothing for which even the stray dogs could hunt, and the priests from the Christian church walked around with empty eyes.

n.o.buo should have been there, but he was fighting rebels in Ise and Iga. It became clear that the burning of Azuchi had not been ordered by n.o.buo. Certainly the fires had been started by his men, but it seemed plausible that that had been the result of a misunderstanding or perhaps of false rumors spread by the enemy.

Hideyoshi and n.o.butaka had traveled to Azuchi together and lamented the destruction with deep feeling. Nevertheless, after they realized that the fires had not been set at n.o.buo's command, their indignation seemed to abate somewhat. They stayed in Azuchi for only two days. The convoy of ships once again set sail, this time for the north. Hideyoshi was advancing his main army to his home castle at Nagahama.

The castle was safe. There was no sign of the enemy, and allied troops were already entering the castle grounds. When the commander's standard with the golden gourds was raised, the people of the castle town were overjoyed. They filled the streets through which Hideyoshi pa.s.sed en route from his boat to the castle. Women, children, and the elderly prostrated themselves in the dirt to greet him. Some people cried, and some could not even lift their faces. There were some who cheered and waved their hands, while others even forgot themselves as they danced with joy. He purposefully pa.s.sed by on horseback to respond to the enthusiastic welcome of his people.

For Hideyoshi, however, there remained a very serious anxiety, and it grew even more intense after he entered Nagahama Castle. He burned with such impatience and longing that he could not stand idle even for a moment. Were his mother and wife safe?

After sitting down in the inner citadel, he asked the question over and over to each one of the generals who came and went. He was suddenly very worried about the condition of his family.

"We've looked everywhere for them, but no clear report has come in yet," the generals said.

"Wasn't there anyone who knew anything about their whereabouts?" Hideyoshi asked.

"Well, we thought so," one general answered. "But none of the people seem to have seen them. When they fled the castle, their destination was kept an absolute secret."

"I see. It must be true. If their whereabouts had leaked out to the common people the enemy would have given chase, and they would have been in danger."

Hideyoshi met another general and discussed an entirely different subject. That day the enemy troops at Sawayama Castle had abandoned the fortress and fled in the direction of Wakasa. The general reported that the castle had been returned to the control of its former commander, Niwa Nagahide.

Ishida Sakichi and four or five other members of the pages' group suddenly returned hurriedly from an unknown destination. Before they got to Hideyoshi's room, happy voices could be heard bubbling up in the corridor and the pages' room, and Hideyoshi asked those around him, "Has Sakichi come back? Why is he so slow in coming here?" He sent a man to rebuke him.

Ishida Sakichi had been born in Nagahama, and he knew the geography of the area better than anyone. He had thought, therefore, that now was the time to use his knowledge. He had been out on his own since noon, looking for the place where his lord's mother and his wife might be hiding.

Sakichi knelt respectfully in front of Hideyoshi. According to his report, Hideyoshi's mother, his wife, and the rest of the household were hiding in the mountains a little more than ten leagues from Nagahama. It seemed that they were barely keeping body and soul together.

"Well, let's get ready to leave right away. If we go now, we should be able to get there tomorrow night," Hideyoshi said, standing. He was nearly unable to restrain himself, so great was his impatience.

"Take care of things while I'm gone," he ordered Kyutaro. "Hikoemon is stationed at Otsu, and Lord n.o.butaka is still at Azuchi."

As Hideyoshi left the castle gate, he saw six or seven hundred men lined up and waiting for him. They had fought successive battles at Yamazaki and Sakamoto, and had had no time to rest even at Azuchi. The warriors had arrived only that morning, and their faces were still tired and muddy. Hideyoshi said, "It will be enough if fifty hors.e.m.e.n come with me.

Hideyoshi only said this after the mounted men carrying torches had started to lead the procession. Almost all of the soldiers, then, were to stay behind.

"That's dangerous," Kyutaro said. "Fifty hors.e.m.e.n are too few. The road you'll take tonight pa.s.ses close by Mount Ibuki, and enemy forces may still be hiding there."

Both Kyutaro and Shonyu were especially vociferous in cautioning him, but Hideyoshi seemed convinced that there was no need for such concern. Answering that it was not worth worrying about, he ordered the men with the torches to lead the way. Leaving the castle gate, they went along the tree-lined road toward the northeast. Riding through the night until about the fourth watch, Hideyoshi progressed five leagues down the road without too much haste.

The group arrived at Sanjuin Temple at midnight. Hideyoshi had thought the monks would be taken completely by surprise, but to his amazement, when they opened the main gate, he saw that the inside of the temple was brilliantly lit with lanterns, water had been splashed over the grounds, and the entire area had been swept clean.

"Somebody must have come ahead and announced that I was coming."

"It was me," Sakichi announced.

"You?"

"Yes. I thought that you would probably be stopping here to rest, my lord, so I had a young man who is a fast runner come ahead and order meals prepared for fifty men."

Sakichi had been an acolyte at Sanjuin Temple, but at twelve years of age he had been accepted by Hideyoshi as a page at Nagahama Castle. That had been eight years ago, and he had since become a twenty-year-old samurai. Sakichi had excellent good sense and was more quick-witted than most people.

At dawn, the outline of Mount Ibuki could be seen against the rose and pale blue hues of the sky, while nothing could be heard but the chirping of tiny birds. The dew was deep on the road, and darkness hung beneath the trees.

Hideyoshi looked happy. He knew that with every step he was getting closer to his mother and wife, and he seemed to mind neither the steep slope of the road nor his own fatigue. Now, the closer he approached Nis.h.i.tani as the light increased on Mount Ibuki, the more he had the feeling of being held to his mother's breast.

No matter how long they climbed upstream along the Azusa River, they never seemed to come to its source. On the contrary, it opened up and they came out into a valley so wide that they might have forgotten they were in the middle of the mountains.

"That's Mount Kanakuso," announced the monk who was acting as guide, and he pointed to a steep peak directly in front of them. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The sun had climbed to the center of the sky, and the heat of midsummer was rising.

The monk walked on ahead again on the narrow path. After a while the path became so narrow that Hideyoshi and his attendants had to dismount. Just at that moment the men around Hideyoshi stopped.

"It looks like the enemy," they said with alarm.

Hideyoshi and his small force had just climbed around the peak. There appeared to be a group of soldiers stationed on the mountainside in the distance. Those soldiers, too, seemed surprised, and they all stood up together. One of them seemed to be giving out commands while soldiers scattered in disorder.

"They could be remaining enemy soldiers," someone said. "I've heard that they've fled as far as Ibuki."

That was, indeed, a possibility, and the gunners immediately ran forward. The order was quickly given to get ready for battle, but the two monks who were acting as guides called them back.

"It's not the enemy. They're the lookouts from the temple. Don't shoot!"

They then turned toward the mountain in the distance and made themselves understood by gesturing and yelling at the top of their voices.

With that, the soldiers began to descend the mountain like stones tumbling down a cliff. Very soon, an officer with a small banner affixed to his back ran down to them. Hideyoshi recognized him as a retainer from Nagahama.

The Daikichi Temple was nothing more than a small mountain temple. When it rained, water leaked through the roof. When the wind blew, the walls and beams shook. Nene lived and waited upon her mother-in-law in the main temple, while the ladies-in-waiting lived in the priests' quarters. The retainers who came later from Nagahama built small huts in the area or lodged in farmhouses in the village. So in those wretched conditions, a large family of over two hundred had lived for over two weeks.

By the time news of n.o.bunaga's murder reached them, the advance guard of the Akechi army was already in sight of the castle, and there was hardly time to think of what to do. Nene had written a letter to her husband in the far-off western provinces, but it was truly at the last moment. Taking her mother-in-law, she had abandoned the castle and fled, leaving everything behind. All she was able to do was load a packhorse with a change of clothes for her mother-in-law and the presents her husband had received from n.o.bunaga.

In that situation Nene felt the tragic resolve and the great responsibility of a woman's lot. She was in charge of the castle in Hideyoshi's absence, and she had to serve his aged mother and run the large castle household. She must have wanted with all her heart the happiness of hearing her husband tell her that she had done well. He, however, was far away on the battlefield. Until recently she had lived in the safety of a castle while her husband was on the battlefield, but now, suddenly, there was no distinction between them.

During a war, this situation was no cause for despair, but Nene was pained by the question of where to move Hideyoshi's mother. Even if the castle was abandoned to the enemy, she was certain that Hideyoshi would quickly retake it. But as his wife, if she had allowed her mother-in-law to be injured, she would never have been able to face him again.

"Please just worry about protecting my mother-in-law. Don't think about me. And no matter how much you may regret leaving something behind, don't let yourselves be distracted by possessions." Thus Nene encouraged the women servants and everyone in the household as they moved desperately along the road to the east.

Nagahama was bordered on the west by Lake Biwa, the north was checked by hostile clans and activity in the direction of the Mino Road was unclear. There was no recourse, then, but to flee toward Mount Ibuki.

When her clan was victorious, the warrior's wife would be filled with happiness. But once her husband had become the loser-or they were driven from his castle as fugitives-the pathetic wife must feel a wretchedness that could not be imagined by a man who n the fields or sold his wares in town.

From that that day on the members of Hideyoshi's household went hungry, lay down to sleep in the open, and were frightened by the enemy patrols. During the night it was difficult to avoid the dew; during the day their white, bloodied feet pressed on in flight.

Through these difficulties there was one thing they kept in mind: when we're captured by the enemy, we'll show them. That was almost everyone's secret promise. The women were of one mind. The feeling among them was that if the fragrance that drifted from their rouge and the loveliness of their black hair did not project from their hearts on that day, they should be disdained and condemned as nothing but shams to hide their uglinesss.

The village was an excellent refuge. Sentries had been posted at a distance, so there was no fear of a surprise attack. As it was midsummer, the bedding and provisions were made to last. Their greatest discomfort was only a matter of isolation. Being so far from human habitation, they had no idea of what was going on.

The messenger should return soon. Nene let her thoughts run toward the western sky. The night before she fled Nagahama she had hastily written a letter to her husband. She had heard nothing from the messenger since then. Perhaps he had fallen into the hands of the Akechi on the way, or had been unable to find their hiding place. She had about those possibilities day and night.

More recently she had heard that there had been a battle at Yamazaki. When told about the event, her blood raced to the surface of her skin, flushing her complexion.

'That's very likely. It's just like that boy," Hideyoshi's mother said.

The old lady's hair had turned completely white, and now she sat in the main hall of the Daikichi Temple from the time she rose in the morning to the time she went to bed, hardly moving at all and praying devoutly for her son's victory. No matter how chaotic the world became, she believed absolutely that the child to whom she had given birth would not turn from the Great Way. Even now when she gossiped with Nene, she still fell into her old habit of referring to Hideyoshi as "that boy."

"Let him return victorious, even if it's in exchange for this old body." That was her single day-long prayer. From time to time she would look up with a sigh of relief at the statue of the G.o.ddess Kannon.

"Mother, I have a feeling we're going to be receiving good news soon," Nene said one day.

"I've been feeling that myself, but I don't know why," Hideyoshi's mother said.

"I felt it all of a sudden when I looked up at the face of Kannon," Nene said. "Yesterday more than the day before, today more than yesterday, she seems to be smiling at us."

It was on the morning of Hideyoshi's arrival that the two women had been talking in this way.

The setting sun was bringing the shadow of the valley across the village, and the walls of the temple were already colored by twilight. Nene was striking the flint to light the lamps in the dark of the inner sanctuary, while the old lady sat in prayer in front of the statue of Kannon.

Suddenly they heard warriors hurrying outside. Hideyoshi's mother turned around in surprise and Nene went out to the veranda.

"His Lordship is coming!"

The shouts of the sentinels echoed throughout the compound. Every day sentinels went downstream about two leagues to stand watch. They all looked as if they had fallen on their faces after running up to the main gate, but when they saw Nene on the veranda, they started yelling at her from where they were, as though there wasn't enough time to come closer.

"Mother!" Nene shouted out.

"Nene!"

The old lady and her daughter-in-law embraced in tears, hardly aware that their happy voices had become one. The old lady prostrated herself before the image of Kannon. Nene knelt next to her and bowed with all her heart.

"The boy hasn't seen you for a long time. You look a little tired. Go brush your hair."

"Yes, Mother."

Nene quickly retired to her room. She brushed her hair, cupped some water from the bamboo conduit to wash her face, and quickly applied some makeup.

All of the members of the household and the samurai were in front of the gate, lined up according to age and rank to greet Hideyoshi. The faces of both old and young, many of whom were villagers, peeked from between the trees. Their eyes were wide with curiosity about what would happen next. After a short while two warriors running ahead of the others came up to the gate and announced that their lord and his company would arrive soon. When they finished their report to Nene, they joined the line of men at the very end, and everyone became hushed. Every man waited for Hideyoshi to appear in the distance. As she stood in the shadow of the expectant men, Nene's eyes looked strangely opaque.

Very soon thereafter a group of men and horses arrived, and the air was filled with the smell of sweat and dust and the din and bustle of those who had come out to greet their lord. The front gate of the temple was temporarily hidden by the whinnying line ofhorses and people congratulating the men on their safe arrival.

Hideyoshi was among them. He had ridden the short distance from the village, but dismouted in front of the temple gate. Handing the reins of his horse to an attendant, he looked over at a group of children standing at the end of the line of people at his right.

'There must be a lot of places to play in the mountains," he said. Then he patted the shoulders of the little boys and girls standing nearby. They were all children of his retainers, and their mothers, grandmothers, and grandfathers were there too. Hideyoshi smiled at each one of them as he walked toward the stone steps of the gate.

Well, well. I see that everyone's safe. I'm relieved." Then he turned to the people on his left,where the warriors of his clan stood silently. Hideyoshi raised his voice a little.

"I've come back. I understand the hardships you've suffered in my absence. You had to work very hard."

The warriors standing in line bowed low. Beneath the temple gate at the top of the steps, his main retainers and both young and old members of his immediate family waited to greet him. Hideyoshi merely looked to the right and left, demonstrating his own health with a smile. To his wife, Nene, he gave only a glance, and pa.s.sed through the gate without speaking.

But from that point, the husband was accompanied by the figure of his modest wife. The pages that followed in a crowd and the members of his family either went off to rest as Nene had instructed them or simply saluted him from the veranda, each then disappearing into his own quarters.

In the high-ceilinged main temple, a solitary lamp flickered on a low stand. Next to it sat a single woman with hair as white as a silkworm coc.o.o.n, wearing a russet-colored kimono.

She could hear her son's voice as he was led up to the veranda by his wife. Without making a sound, his mother stood up and moved to the edge of the room. Hideyoshi paused beneath the shutter and brushed the dust from his coat. His head, which he had shaved at Amagasaki, was still wrapped in a hood.

Nene came around from behind her husband and spoke in a quiet voice. "Your mother has come out to greet you."

Hideyoshi quickly went up to his mother and prostrated himself. "I've given you so much trouble, Mother. Please forgive me," was all he could say.

The old lady retreated a little on her knees, then repeated her greeting, prostrating herself in front of her son. The etiquette of the occasion required that a greeting be made to the lord of the clan upon his triumphal return; it was the tradition of the warrior cla.s.s, not a simple, everyday matter between parent and child. But as soon as Hideyoshi saw his mother safe and sound, he was unable to feel anything but affection for his own flesh and blood. Silently he approached his old mother. With modest manners, however, she resisted him.

"You've returned safely. But before you ask about my hardships or well-being, why don't you tell me about Lord n.o.bunaga's death? And tell me if you've destroyed our hateful enemy, Mitsuhide?"Hideyoshi unconsciously straightened his collar. His mother continued, "I wonder if you know that what your old mother worried about day after day was not whether you were alive or dead. I worried about whether you would act like the great General Hideyoshi, a retainer of Lord n.o.bunaga. Even as I wondered about how you would manage after the death of our lord, I heard about your march on Amagasaki and Yamazaki. But after that, we heard nothing."

"I was slow in letting you know."

Her words seemed reserved and spoken without love, but Hideyoshi trembled with happiness, as though his blood were rushing through his entire body. Rather than being soothed by a natural motherly love, he felt that his mother's present admonishment showed a far greater love, and it gave him encouragement for the future.

He then told them in detail of the events that had happened since n.o.bunaga's death, and of the great deeds he wished to accomplish. He spoke about these things plainly so that his old mother would understand them well.

His mother now shed tears for the first time, and then praised her son. "You did well by destroying the Akechi in only a few days. Lord n.o.bunaga's soul must feel satisfied, and he should have no regrets about having given you his affection. To tell the truth, I was determined not to let you spend a single night here if you had come before seeing Mitsuhide's head."

"No, and I wouldn't have been able to see you before finishing that matter, so there was nothing I could do but fight on doggedly until two or three days ago."